With a lockout looming, most fans the Edmonton Sun spoke with Friday were hesitant to throw their support behind the players or the owners.

“I tell you man, it’s getting harder and harder,” said Murray Utas.

“You’ve got spoiled billionaires on one side and spoiled millionaires on the other and it’s like, dude just play some hockey, man, let’s go.”

Utas said he’s still trying to recover from the 2004-05 lockout.

“There’s people starving still and there’s not enough clean water, and what you guys are fighting about is kind of ridiculous, you know?”

Marty Marsh, a diehard Flames fan with a Calgary logo boldly tattooed on his right arm, had similar feelings.

“I am not really with anyone. I think it’s millionaires and billionaires complaining about money. They all say they play for the love of the game, but they won’t play if they don’t get millions of dollars. It’s ridiculous to me,” he said.

Marsh did take a position on the NHL commissioner, however.

“(Gary) Bettman has got to go,” he said.

Paul Strand, who coaches the Keyano College Huskies, said he is siding with the owners for now.

“The owners put up a lot of the risk, and if the economy goes down, they’re the ones who are going to take the biggest hit.”

Strand said he would be happy with a lockout because it could bring more people out to watch his team play.

Young fans like Kulshaan Kahlon and Jon Panter at United Cycle on Gateway Blvd. both said they would seek out AHL, CHL and WHL games to fill the void left by the NHL.

Mayor Stephen Mandel said he is disappointed there will be some business loss in town if they Oilers don’t play, but he believes Edmontonians will find other ways to spend their leisure time and disposable income.

“People will do other things. They’ll go to more shows, go to more restaurants, maybe go to more Oil King games. People will fill their time,” Mandel said.

The NHL and its players have until midnight Saturday to reach a collective agreement. If an agreement is not reached, the league will lock out the players, which will delay or cancel the 2012-13 season.